The morning sun beat down on my wings as I flew high
above Mystery Island. I loved flying. You could say it was my hobby in a way.
From way up here, all Neopians look like multicolored dots. I dove down a bit
to avoid another Eyrie. "Nice day for flying," the Eyrie commented. He was off
before I had a chance to answer. I decided to fly even lower.
I was flying over my house when I noticed
a blue dot in front of it. I turned around and landed on top. It was my sister,
Jewel. "Hey Jewel," I called. She looked happy to see me.
"Could you help me with these, Sakura?"
she asked, waving some shopping bags. I became increasingly interested in what
Jewel was doing. Jewel rarely ever went shopping. She preferred to spend her
time playing NeoQuest.
"Sure," I replied, as I floated to the
ground.
It is a good thing that our NeoHome is
partially hidden from the road. If it were not, we would have a whole crowd
of people standing there and gawking at it. Why? For the same reason that Jewel
needed help with her bags: our NeoHome floats. Yes, we live in a floating NeoHome.
There is absolutely nothing on the first floor.
It was our owner, shimmering_aurora's idea,
really. She devised a way in which she might be able to get a NeoHome to float,
and it worked. Want to have a summer picnic? Try sitting in the cool shade underneath.
The problem is in getting up. If you can't
fly, you have to use a rope ladder to get to one of the porches or the balcony.
Jewel is a Kougra. Most of the time this isn't a problem, but every once in
a while, Jewel or Shimmer has to wait outside until someone else comes home.
Such a thing usually occurs after one of them goes shopping. The items then
have to be pulled up by ropes, or if I'm there, I fly them up. Needless to say,
getting new furniture is a pain.
I put the bags around my paws and flew
up to the porch. Jewel climbed up the rope ladder, muttering all the way. "I
still don't see why Shimmer can't put stairs up," she complained as we entered
the kitchen.
We had had this discussion many times before.
"She likes the rope ladder because she can pull it up and keep her 'enemies'
out," I replied, "Now let's go inside."
Sunlight streamed through the kitchen windows,
leaving patches of light on the ground. After placing the bags on the table,
I proceeded to question Jewel. "So," I asked, "How come you have all this stuff?"
"It's not mine. I came across Shimmer
on the way back from playing NeoQuest and she 'asked' me to take this stuff
home."
"Shall we see what she bought?"
"I don't see why not. I had to carry it
home, after all."
We proceeded to go through the bags, only
to be disappointed. The only things in them were freebies and stuff Shimmer
had probably bought to sell. We were about to retire to our rooms when Shimmer
returned carrying two more bags.
"Hi guys," she said cheerfully as she
entered the kitchen. "I bought you both some stuff, which you can have on one
condition..."
***
"Are you crazy?" Jewel asked Shimmer. She looked like she really wanted to
know.
"That would depend on how you define 'crazy'.
Why do you ask?"
"You expect us to willingly climb Terror
Mountain, see the Snow Faerie, for nothing more than a few items!"
Jewel and I never cared to go there. Cold
weather is not really our element. Shimmer tends to avoid snow, but lately she
had been interested in Faeries and was determined to ask the Snow Faerie a few
questions.
"Hey," Shimmer began defensively. "You
haven't even seen what I bought." She proceeded to take stuff out of the bags.
"This is for you, Jewel." Shimmer pulled out a few books, some key rings, and
a blue Kougra plushie." Jewel's eyes widened. She had always wanted a blue Kougra
plushie, and, by the look on her face, I could tell she was partially swayed.
"Now Sakura," Shimmer said as she turned
to me. "I bought this for you." She pulled out a black jewelled collar. I wanted
one of those, but it was not enough for me to go to Terror Mountain with
her. "…And this." I felt my heart skip a beat. In her hands, Shimmer held a
lost desert dagger. I agreed to go.
Jewel, however, took a bit more persuading.
"I refuse to get myself cold and wet for just a few items. I, for one, would
prefer to curl up on the couch and read a nice book-- not one that you bought."
"Fine. I'll return the stuff when we get
back," Shimmer said calmly. She picked up the blue Kougra plushie and put it
back in the bag. I could see the indecision in Jewel's eyes.
"Maybe…"
Shimmer stared at her blankly, knowing
what Jewel was going to say.
"Okay," Jewel muttered. "I'll go."
And that is why the three of us were wandering
around, lost, in the middle of a snowstorm. We had embarked on a trip to see
Taelia the Snow Faerie. A trip that started out innocently enough, but ended
in an unexpected way…
***
I could barely move with the wind blowing so hard. It whipped at my ears, eyes,
fur, and wings. Shimmer trudged along behind me, followed by Jewel. I was kind
of like a living shield for them, because they might have be blown over, otherwise.
We had been walking along the path to Terror
Mountain when it started to snow. Figuring that it would be quicker to keep
on going than to go back, we had continued on our quest to see the Snow Faerie.
Then, what had started as a small flurry turned into a blizzard. We soon found
ourselves off the path and completely lost.
"Do you see anything?" Shimmer asked.
I knew she was yelling, but her voice reached
my ears as a barely audible whisper. "No," I called back.
I was busy contemplating the ridiculousness
of that question, when I walk straight into something extremely hard. This alone
might not have been so bad if Shimmer and Jewel had not walked into me, making
me hit whatever it was again. "Ouch!" I cried.
"What happened?" asked Jewel, sounding
dazed.
"I think Sakura ran into some kind of rock,"
Shimmer called out.
"Hey," I began defensively, "You ran into
it, too."
"Actually, we ran into you," Jewel pointed
out.
I was fairly annoyed at them both, until
Shimmer called out excitedly. "I think I found an opening. It looks like a cave
of some sort."
It was a cave, and it was a lot bigger
inside than it looked from the outside. It also seemed a bit damp from the snow
that managed to get in through the entrance. Shimmer shivered. "Maybe we should
go against the back wall," she suggested. Jewel and I agreed with her.
However, after we had walked for about
five minutes and still had not reached a back wall, I was rather suspicious.
"Is this a cave or a tunnel?" I asked aloud.
"Now, I'm beginning to think that
it's a tunnel," answered Shimmer.
"Maybe we should go back," suggested Jewel.
"We could get lost wandering around without a flashlight.
"Let's just walk a bit further. Just make
sure to touch the right wall at all times."
After walking around a couple of bends,
we could see a dim light, like that which a fire gives off, coming from down
the tunnel.
"Let's leave," whispered Jewel nervously.
"Let's go see where it's coming from,"
Shimmer whispered excitedly and at the same time.
"Are you…" Shimmer clapped her hand over
Jewel's mouth before she could finish her question.
"Are you crazy," she asked again, this
time in a whisper.
"That would depend on how you define 'crazy',"
Shimmer answered calmly. "Why do you ask?"
"How often is a light at the end of the
tunnel portrayed as a good thing? Who knows what could be down there?"
"Exactly. Besides, maybe it's not at the
end." In the dim light, I could tell that Jewel was trying to figure out what
Shimmer meant by that.
"I'll go with you," I volunteered. It beat
sitting there and waiting for the storm to be over.
"I'm beginning to doubt your sanity also."
Jewel sounded very annoyed. I guess she expected me to back her up.
"You can just stay here while me and Sakura
go."
"It's 'Sakura and I' not 'me and Sakura',
and I am not staying here alone."
"Good -- then, you're coming with us."
Jewel looked at Shimmer with distaste.
"Actually, I think I would rather stay here alone, than go off and get myself
killed with you two."
In order to prevent us from standing there
for hours on end arguing, I said goodbye to Jewel and pulled Shimmer down the
tunnel. As we walked the light became brighter and brighter.
I was about to give up hope of ever reaching
the source when we rounded a bend and walked straight into a brightly lit cavern.
There were torches all along the wall, and a cot on the floor to our right.
In the middle of the room sat a large, dark purple chair, which faced the blank,
gray wall opposite to us.
Something about the room gave me the creeps.
I turned to leave, and Shimmer followed my lead. We hadn't taken more than a
few steps when we were stopped in our tracks.
"And where do you think you're going?"
The voice was calm, cold, and authoritative. Although I know the look of terror
on my face matched that on Shimmer's, neither of us ran. Fear had frozen us
both in our places.
"Why aren't you answering me? I wouldn't
suggest you try any funny stuff."
This time, I found myself following Shimmer's
lead as she walked back into the room. We were a few feet away from the chair
when it swiveled around. I'm not sure if it was fear or shock that stopped us
in our tracks this time.
In the chair sat a Dark Faerie. She was
wearing a dark purple dress, and her long, medium purple hair went down to her
waist. You could somehow tell by her face that she was a fairly old Faerie.
On her lap sat a Raindorf, and from a dark corner, a Pinceron floated to her
side. "You might as well make yourselves comfortable. You're going to be here
a while."
To be continued…
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